Today is a day that many people all around the world, not just Americans, have been waiting for with bated breath. Whether out of fear or hope, there is an undeniable energy in the atmosphere. Even here in France, the teachers at my school chatter about the Inauguration in the staff room and at the cafeteria. Students from two separate classes asked me how I … Continue reading Why I Press on Today, Tomorrow, and Always

I have no intentions of becoming a vlogger, but I’ve had some videos stored on my camera and phone. I figured the best thing to do was to just compile them into a vlog. Here are some random highlights from Fall 2016. Featuring: Strasbourg, Nancy, Metz, and Berlin. And a short clip of the World’s Largest Tray of Cheese in Nancy from September 2016. I … Continue reading World’s Largest Tray of Cheese: France Vlog 1

It’s 11:00PM and the ticket counter at the Luxembourg train station is closed. Doors shut, no attendant, ticket dispensing machines locked behind the sliding glass. I try not to let the panic set in as I start to wonder if I’m going to be able to get back to Nancy, France. I didn’t buy my return ticket ahead of time because I wasn’t sure when … Continue reading Places and the Moments in Between: Perspectives from Traveling

As of this past week, I have officially been in France for 100 days. With the end of the year quickly approaching, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at what I’ve done in France thus far. Luckily for me, I’ve been keeping a daily journal so I won’t have to attempt to do this off the top of my head. It’s nice to … Continue reading 100 x 100 (100 Things in 100 Days)

Hello blogosphere! I know it’s been a nice long while since I’ve posted anything. Not because I haven’t wanted to, but mostly because I’ve been dealing with what I like to think of as a little bit of the blues. Long story short, living in France isn’t as easy as I thought it would be. After getting ambushed by an emotional breakdown on the first … Continue reading Beating the TAPIF/Postgrad Blues

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. Part of that is because the wifi at my place has been down for the last two weeks. The other part of that is that I have been traveling for the last week. French schools have roughly a two week break for the holiday of Toussaint during the last part of October, so I’ve been taking … Continue reading How I Paris-ed on a Teaching Assistant’s Budget

orientation | noun | /ˌɔriɛnˈteɪʃən / 1: the action of orienting someone or something relative to the points of a compass or other specified positions. 2: a person’s basic attitude, beliefs, or feelings in relation to a particular subject or issue. 3: familiarization with something. Last week I sat in a lecture hall with about 46 other English language assistants from all around the world (Canada, India, Ireland, … Continue reading Orientation & Reorientation: My Identity Abroad

Reestablishing your life is tiring. I feel like that is a pretty obvious statement. Now that I think about it, even moving from one place to another for work or school within the the same country is tiring. The naive part of me didn’t give much thought to what it would mean to rebuild my life in France before leaving. I was too distracted by … Continue reading Sometimes You Just Need to Hide Away to Heidelberg